Col. Robert Thieme of Barachah Church in Houston, TX penned this unforgettable quote decades ago in one of his many books, which was: “Ritual without reality is meaningless,” and considering the state of things, especially in America, this statement could not be truer, with al the anti-government, wealthy, gay rights vitriol that is being seen and heard. If those hopeful words in the gospel of Luke are to have any real meaning then what it requires of us is to look at the world in which we live through radically different lenses. The intervention of transcendent God into humanity as a fleshly being called Jesus Christ was so much more than teaching superior moral values or starting a new religion, but rather to inaugurate or herald the coming Kingdom [government] of God to the earth.

This divine theocracy will supplant all human political, social and economic institutions which are now under the power or dominion of Satan and sin, however, under the new celestial administration with the eternal Father and Jesus [Yeshua] at His right hand on the throne of power, the earth will be a place where righteousness dwells and God will wipe away all our tears, and there will be no more pain or sorrow and no more death because the former things will have all passed away. All the bickering and controversy over displaying overly religious and for that matter, non-religious holiday symbols in public buildings or private homes misses the point entirely because all these things will be destroyed anyway. The thing that will endure is what we have done with our lives in the time God has allotted to us, and what we have done by emulating Jesus in love to unselfishly or unconditionally make a stranger’s life better and as a result of our good deeds and works our name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.